Brief summary of events Defendant householder cut through electricity supply cable encased in concrete under his driveway. Claimant repaired the cable Claimant says cable was 200mm below surface of driveway Claimant issued Letter before Claim(LBC) 4 months later - no previous correspondence and begins "We are now in a position to serve our Letter of Claim pursuant to the Pre Action Protocol for Construction and Engineering Disputes. Claim is in negligence, claims for it's "losses" Included in it's LBC is it's "invoice" for the repair works. (£536) Claimant admits that it's LBC is a 'standard' LBC Many of the defendant's 'failings" alleged by claimant are simply not relevant e.g. failing to properly supervise it's employees & "Failing in all the circumstances to design or implement safe systems of work" Defendant made request for information, most of which were refused, including information aimed at discovering if the "invoice" includes a markup. Defendant made formal response to each of his alleged “failings”. Defendant denies liability. Claimant says that invoice must be paid within 14 days or it will become overdue for payment. LBC was, in fact, issued by and signed by a finance assistant in the Claimant's credit control department, who has dealt with the matter throughout. It is tolerably clear that claimant is attempting to run two mutually exclusive legal concepts - a claim in negligence as per it’s LBC and payment of a debt due under contract. Claimant has not (yet) issued proceedings. Defendant is concerned that Claimant might not, in fact issue negligence proceedings, but attempt enforcement action to obtain payment of £536 alleging that it is collecting payment of a debt due under contract. All comments welcome.

Having thought about it for a while, as no track is yet allocated 31.4 and 31.15 seems to me to be in play. If that is right, then my query is: - Does the defendant's solicitor, have the right to demand that I send him documents, a demand that he has made, without, a) serving a notice to inspect, and b) following that inspection, stating he wishes to have a copy of each document inspected, and on his undertaking to pay the reasonable cost of copying, must I then, and only then, make and give him those copies? Thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to post up their comments - much appreciated.

True - but at present, the claim is "trackless" as the defendant has not filed a defence, yet

The claim is a money claim for less than £5000, so it is likely to be allocated to the small claims track. If the matter goes to trial, I will be making an application for my costs at the LIP rate because the defendant has behaved unreasonably. The threat to seek an Order if I do not comply with the demand for copies of documents, when the formalities per CPR 31.15 have not been observed with is, in my view an(other) example of unreasonable conduct.

All of the documents demanded were either documents D sent to me or I sent to D, before proceedings issued. D has not served a defence, nor replied to the LBC - Case is presently "trackless". However, the clarity I seek is whether it is open to D's solicitor to demand I copy them to him, or is his right limited only to inspection, and only after he serves a notice to inspect under 31.15 ---- 31.15 Where a party has a right to inspect a document– (a) that party must give the party who disclosed the document written notice of his wish to inspect it; (b) the party who disclosed the document must permit inspection not more than 7 days after the date on which he received the notice; and © that party may request a copy of the document and, if he also undertakes to pay reasonable copying costs, the party who disclosed the document must supply him with a copy not more than 7 days after the date on which he received the request.

Dear dx100uk Claim for Breach of contract and claim pursuant to Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1277), as amended by The Consumer Protection (Amendment)Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/870). Whilst I thank you for your comment, I am fairly certain that all parties are expected to comply with the Civil Procedure Rules. - Perhaps I have misunderstood your comment.

Hello, This is my first post so be gentle with me! If my understanding is correct, CPR 31.14 provides the right to inspect the class(es) of documents specified in 31.14. In the event the party wishes to exercise that right, he is required to serve a notice under CPR 31.15 and the party in possession of the document is required to permit that inspection within 7 days of that notice being served on him. Following inspection, if the inspecting party wishes to have a copy of the document he has inspected and providing he gives an undertaking to pay the reasonable costs of that, the party in possession of the document must furnish that copy within 7 days of the request for a copy. Have I got this right? To put some flesh on the bone: I received the following letter from a solicitor firm --------------------- We are instructed to prepare a defence on behalf of our client. For the purposes of that defence and understanding the case our client is required to meet, we require copies of the documents referred to in your Particulars of Claim (”POC”). We are entitled to disclosure of those documents at this stage pursuant to CPR part 31.14. Please provide us with copies of the following within the next7 days There then followed a list of the documents mentioned in the POC. And the final paragraph was: We look forward to receiving the documents within the next 7 days. in default, we reserve the right to make an application to the Court for an Order against you. In the event of such an application becoming necessary a request for an order for costs in favour of our client will be made. -------------------------------- My contention - and I may be wrong about that, which is why I am here, is that a notice to inspect is the first step, I must allow that inspection within 7 days of receiving that notice. Following inspection, I must be told what documents the inspector requires a copy of, and provided the inspector furnishes me with a an undertaking to pay my reasonable costs of copying (which includes my time doing it), I must furnish those copies within 7 days of receiving the request for the copy and the undertaking. The above solicitor's letter seems to have short circuited all of that. I would be very happyy for any comments!